Almost Nine Years at the Quill
By Ronnie Neiman
For the last eight years and a bit, I have been writing at the Quill. I had been at the university previously in 2013, but had taken some time off. When I returned to the university in 2015, I was introduced to the Quill. As someone who has always enjoyed different forms of writing, doing the Quill did wonders for my mental health.
My very first article was a St. Patricks Day article. I wrote about Irish drinking songs, and despite the struggle in finding one that didn’t talk about alcohol, I found one.
For several years, while I attended part-time, I continued to write for the Quill. The first time I got the front page if the Quill was when we were protesting the implementation of Bill c-31. I hadn’t expected that but I was thrilled.
My writing improved as I continued to write for the Quill, which in turn helped my better the writing for my academics.
I wrote on a mostly regular basis for a number of years. Then in the summer of 2019, I was talking to the then Assistant EIC. He suggested I reach out to the Editor-in-Chief to apply for that job position with the Quill. I was surprised. I also wasn’t sure if I was capable of the job.. I had never been in charge of anything and I had always been ridiculously shy. However, I was told that no one else was even interested in the position. So I said yes because I didn’t want to see the Quill end. I stepped way outside of my comfort zone.
I met my then assistant EIC, Lulu. The first semester in my new position as Editor-in-Chief went rather well. Then the following semester, started off alright. I made a trip to Vancouver for the Quill, my very first work conference. Then only weeks after that, the campus of Brandon University shut down, along with many other services. The COVID-19 Pandemic had well and truly taken off.
In a strange coincidence, our last physical issue of the Quill was St. Patricks theme issue. The very same theme issue that I had my first Quill article in several years before. Though, in 2020, we couldn’t even distribute the paper. No one was on campus, nor was it safe for it to be distributed.
For the rest of that semester, and the following year and a half, the Quill went completely online, It was difficult to keep the Quill going during that time. It had been discussed by the Quill board that we just shut down the newspaper for a semester while everything calmed down. We hadn’t known how long the pandemic would affect the closure of the university. I resisted that idea, just I had when I first learned about the EIC position.
It wouldn’t do us any good to shut down the newspaper, even temporally. I am glad we continued on with the Quill. Not just because the pandemic continued longer than anyone would have expected but because students needed the Quill, either to read, or to take part in.
The fall semester of 2022, the Quill saw a new Assistant EIC, Mallory join the team as Lulu had graduated the winter semester prior.
It was only in January of 2023 that the Quill went back to physical print issues and distribution. The Brandon University campus had been back open for slightly more than a semester at that point but I hadn’t wanted to risk it just yet.
Our first issue back was 2023 New Year, year of the Rabbit issue!
I was so glad to be back. I had forgotten a few things that needed to be done when creating physical copies of the Quill but I had some help and figured it out.
I do hope you have enjoyed the return to the physical issues of the Quill. Despite it being much more work, I did enjoy creating them.
Nest semester you guys will have a brand new team at the Quill with Editor-in-Chief Lily Hodgins and Assistant EIC Charles Adamu.
I have enjoyed writing for the Quill and I have learned a lot of things whilst being the Editor.
Thank you to the AEIC’s, the writers, students and staff who have read the Quill. I’ll certainly miss a lot.